All About Andrew @ Seven!

• he loves to read books. Chapter books to be exact, sometimes  way over his reading level but hey, it's good to challenge yourself right. He even argued with the librarian this year about the level he was at, and said if he didn't know one of the words he would just ask mom.
• he makes friends wherever he goes. Girls or boys. In the neighborhood, at soccer, at playgrounds, during swimming lessons and at school he often played with kids even in higher grades.
• he loves sports and although he is small he seems to have a natural ability to be play any sport  and be decent at it.
• he loves Lego and has been really good at it for quite a while now. Already at 4 he could follow the instruction manuals to build sets that were for 8-12 year olds. Our families collection of Lego is huge thanks to having 4 boys and a Daddy that loves it too.
• he is a great big brother and is always looking out for his siblings. Just last week at Uncle Dwayne's and Auntie Trixie's he came running to me freaking out and said "come quick mom, come quick, there are bees everywhere by the playhouse and we need to get Isaac away from there. Hurry hurry!" Sure enough there was a wasp nest. We saved Isaac but mommy got stung.
• he loves Emma and wanted a little sister really bad before Emma was born. In her first week he actually picked out an outfit for her and said I think she will look so pretty in this mom.
• he is a rule follower for the most part and likes to remind his siblings of the rules too.
• he has just learned how to swim under water and is super excited to be taking lessons this week and next.
• he loves, and dare I say, idolizes (in a good way) his big cousin Kevin. Kevin is the coolest with his awesome truck and dirtbike, and his hunting guns.  He always takes the time to explain things and pays lots of attention to our boys.
• he is very thoughtful and always makes cards and pictures for people. Last week he wrote a song for Emma about her crying and the other day he made a "I'm sorry", card for Sam regarding lego building stuff.
• he really enjoys church and we have been told that he just might become a minister some day. He will, and has numerous times burst into tears because I wanted him to wear a Sunday outfit that didn't consist of his tie. He has also requested a suit for Sundays. On Sundays he is very particular about finding the songs we are singing, and also about writing chapters out of the Bible during the sermon.
• he recently has started saving for a quad and is very eager to work for his earnings. We've been spreading the word in the neighborhood and people are starting to come up with tasks for him. He's content with waiting and saving for an entire year if he has to. He must get his patience from his father.
• he is a serious kid but also a very enthusiastic kid. He gets so excited about the littlest things.
• he is very neat and orderly. He likes organizing things (wonder where he gets that from?) and lines up an animal book set we have by number order on the bookshelf.

Emma - 2 months old

All 6 of us on an outing to Henderson Lake. The boys bike the loop while Isaac and Emma get pushed in the bikecart while Mommy rollarblades. Sticking with tradition Emma gets to go to lots of parks and go for lots of walks in the bikecart.

Before long Emma will be too big for the infant sling.

 Guess who started smiling at 3.5 weeks. I am serious too, that's earlier than most babies but she was all smiles every day when Daddy came home from work and picked her up. Instant smiles for her Daddy.

I love this outfit on her. What a little sunshine!

 She's starting to grab and reach for toys.

Enjoying the shade/sun in the backyard one Sunday afternoon.

Emma at 2 Months:

• weighs 12'7 and measures 23 nches long
• is sleeping through the night 9:30ish till 7ish. (Thank you Babywise for making me wiser.)
• is smiling everytime someone talks to her.
• cooing like crazy and even giggled the other day. It's still hard work to giggle though.
• loves going for walks in the bikecart with big brother Isaac while the older three bike ahead of us.
• is a great nurser and is growing like a weed
• has more hair clips/ headbands than most 10 year old girls
• is loved so much by her brothers ( Andrew has even made her a bracelet out of pipe cleaners)
• has had a million pictures taken of her already
• sleeps on her tummy
• gets tons of attention everywhere we go....I think it's the hair!
• is nicknamed Baby doll and sunshine
• gets books read to her all the time even by Isaac
• has had a visit from Nana and Papa and Nannie at 3 weeks old.
• spends a lot of time in the bouncy chair and on her playmat
• hardly ever cries
• is all eyes for her mama and watches my every move
• is such a blessing and makes me smile everytime I look at her!
• I'm still kinda in shock that we have a girl!

 



Lists 2012 - List # 24, 25, 26

Lists 2012 - List #24 The Best Things about being outside

• sunshine
• fresh air
• birds chirping
• physical activity
• playing with the kids
• parks and playgrounds
• watching soccer
• swimming lessons at the local outdoor pool
• seasons
• skating and sledding
• snowshoeeing
• smells like ocean, the forest, fresh soil, mowed grass, lilac bushes, campfires
• sprinklers and the kiddy pool
• spray park
• fishing

List #25 - Things to do this summer

• spray park
• spend a week in Edmonton with Dwayne and Trixie and kids
• spend a week at the cabin
• have Nana and Papa come for another visit
• get back in shape
• zoo
• have lots of campfires
• spend time with friends and family
• kids swimming lessons
• plan Andrew's 7th birthday
• do something special for our anniversary
• read lots of books with the kids
• save money for next summer's adventure to NS
• back to school shopping
• crafts with the kids
• hopefully connect with friend's Melinda, Tyler, Samuel and Malachi
• sat farewell to our great neighbor friend's and meet new neighbor's
• take the kids to Waterton and bike the trail

List #26 - Things I love about Canada

• 4 seasons
• variety of landscapes
• national parks
• Nova Scotia
• ocean
• mountains
• history
• culture
• friendly people
• medical care
• freedom
• people's pride in living here

June Celebrations!

Happy birthday Mommy and Luke and Happy Father's Day Daddy!

BFF Tracy always makes me an awesome cake. Gotta love the banner. We both are big into pinterest these days and getting great ideas and recipes from there. For my birthday I got 2 pound weights, an 8 pound medicine ball, a Jillian Michael's weight workout video and a blender. Ken for Father's Day got some much needed new clothes and a new shaver. It has been gift central around here lately even with all of Emma's gifts. We are very blessed and spoiled rotten!

Luke opening family gifts. Dominos, soccer ball, lego dirtbike set with truck and trailer, suitcase, spiderman hat and motorcycle.

Oh yes and a spiderman fishing rod.

We had a little party for Luke on Monday with his closest friends. Travis Petker (neighbor), Simone Harthoorn (cousin) and Seth VanderHeide(buddy). And Sam was there and Isaac and Emma were sleeping.

Opening presents in the backyard. Wac-A-Mole game, model car, money, a hose ball for in the backyard and a spiderman transformer car.

Thank you hugs!

Then we did some biking. Luckily we are in no shortage of bikes for friends to share.

I didn't make a fancy cake this year but oero cookie pops. I did have a chocolate cake mix made with whipping cream so he could at least blow out some candles.

Yummy.

It started raining out so we headed to the boy cave and played for a while. Seth and I enjoyed some air hockey. He was kicking my butt!

Luke had lots of fun and so did I, it's neat seeing how much these kids have grown even since last years birthday party. We gave a cookie pop, a bug net and a box of smarties as goodie treats.

Emma's Room transformed

 Before

 After

 Gallery wall. Sam drew the family portrait on the right.

This is the other side of the room.

So I had to change up Emma's room since it was rather boyish. I still need to find a few things to put on her shelf but for the most part it is done.

Lists 2012 - List #23 - The best things about being married

1. Sharing our faith and growing in our faith together
2. Having a soulmate to go through life with
3. having a constant workout partner
4. going on adventures and getaways
5. having a huge breakfast made for us Saturday mornings
6. being with someone who loves to spoil you
7. hugs and kisses
8. date nights at home
9. having someone to cook for and impress with your meals/baking etc.
10. sharing our families with one another
11. raising our kids to Love the Lord
12. having someone who wants to hear about my day everyday

Month 6 Week #2 - Photograph your backyard

So this is our teeny tiny backyard that we have made work for us so far. We were talking about what it looked like when we moved in just the other night. The grass was dead and brown, and was green wherever the dog had crapped. Nothing was in it, not a single flower, shrub, tree...nothing. And the recently divorced couple had two kids. Poor kids, it must have been pretty boring.

We have spent a lot of time the last five years in the backyard playing with our little toddlers and it was great. A fenced in yard where the kids were confined was perfect but now they are wanting to explore and broaden the boundaries. " I want to play out front", is all I hear these days.

I understand the front has more to offer like our new basketball net and a street to ride bikes on, and lots of little boys and girls in the neighborhood that LOVE to hang out in their front yards too. What's not to love?

I still think our backyard has something to offer and we still have some fun back there. We have a play center that we are hoping will last for one more year, and a sandbox that Papa built, and most recently we got a free chalkboard at a garage sale and hung it on the fence. I was planning on making a outdoor chalkboard after seeing the idea on Pinterest but this saves me the time and effort and some money.  We pull out the kiddy pool on hot days and that's it. We also had fun a few years back planting a tree and some shrubs.

Can't forget the firepit. It is a bit of a hazard when the kids are sliding down the slide into the pool, and when we are playing soccer but we have had some great nights hanging out at the firepit.